Fever
by Aniwolf
Summary: "He was fire- sultry and beguiling. He consumed her; whispering lust and promising ecstasy. He drowned her; suffocating her with his heat, before casting her from his hearth." Not your average faerie tale. KxK
1. Chapter One: Heat

Title: Fever

Published: August 12, 2014

Summary: "He was fire- sultry and beguiling. He consumed her; whispering lust, and promising ecstasy as he drowned her in his suffocating heat, before casting her from his hearth." Not your average faerie tale.

Pairing: KXK MXA SXM ( Definitely AU OOC)

Notes: Woot, I've been a lurker on this site for a minute. I am finally ready to publish my stories. Hope you enjoy it! Feel free to review after reading. This is definitely an 'M' rated story; it's going to be very sensual. So, read at your own caution. Also there is no beta-reader, I tried my best to proof read and correct. I plan on this story only being a few chapters long. This story is also a culmination of many different stories I've read. No way that I own, but am extremely inspired by.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned the RK crew, but alas I do not.

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Chapter One: Temperature

* * *

Heat.

It was what consumed her life. A wavering and spontaneous thing; it appeared in all aspects, showing up when least expected - crawling its way through all things, much like an unwelcome visitor. Heat was what marked the shift of seasons, the appearance of illness, and the passages and presence of emotions within the human soul. Right now, it was heat that consumed her cheeks, and inflamed her insides as she lingered along the shadowed sidewalk. Heat, was what made her hands tremble, as it lavished her with its sweet promise of a following wave of emotion- rage.

It took all she could bear to choke down the stifling fluttering of anger racing through her chest and limbs. A mantra of words pulsed through her head with this new flood of emotions; '_it was unfair, all so unfair_.' Life could be so unbearably cruel sometimes.

She shook her head in utter disbelief, how could she be so surprised really? Things like this were forever happening to her, a perpetual cloud of malice and unluckiness seemed to hang over her head with an added air of constant danger. It was only by the grace of the gods, she surmised, that she had even managed to live to the youthful age of twenty – two.

Consumed by her thoughts, Kaoru tipped her head back and inhaled the musky air from her position on the precipice of the sidewalk. The sun had already begun its repetitive path of travel, lowering itself below the distant, vibrant green tree line. The sky was awash with the last few rays of light, painting a stunning, surreal picture of red and orange hues. Even with the last touches of the sun leaving the skyline, it was still heat that warmed her black tank top and fading jeans Kaoru noted.

Heat.

She could not escape it.

The simple act of tipping her head up brought escape from her surroundings of metal and concrete: to the fading tendrils of light in the sky, brought some semblance of peace to her raging thoughts. It was something she learned in her to do , what it seemed like, a distant childhood. Kaoru raked her thin hands through the thick mass of black hair on top of her skull, an attempt to placate and sooth the anger bouncing around in her mind.

Another job, lost.

Kaoru clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth in derision. Sometimes, she wondered if things were never meant to go right for her in this world. It was the second job this month, lost, to unexplained sequencing of unlucky and unnatural events.

Kaoru had been so confident that things would have worked out this time! Her lost employment had been a small grocery store located in a neighboring prefecture easily accessible by train. It was situated in a small area, nestled comfortably amongst blocks of family homes. She had spent her days watching young children in hand with mothers and fathers come and purchase her tenured wares. It was all smiles and kind words with her repeat customers, and firm, brisk –yet not unkind- thanks and bows from new customers. Within a few days of hire, she felt the sense of unease relinquish its hold and a feeling of comfort take its place. Kaoru should have known that as soon as that feeling began, she should have expected disaster.

Letting out a deep gusty sigh, she moved back from her previous hawkish vigil on the corner of the cracked side walk, and continued on the previously abandoned trek to her home.

She snorted, if home was what you could truly call it. The minuscule, gray washed building that held her compact apartment was the farthest thing from a place where one made a home-laid their heart and left goals and ambitions waiting for them at arrival in the threshold. But, three years ago, setting out as a small town girl who wanted to move to the city it was what her parents had deemed to be acceptable.

A small smile touched her lips at the thought of her kin, as a ripple of sadness, ever so slightly, constricted her chest. Kaoru quickly quelled the emotion. There was no time for that in her current situation, she had to stay focused. She needed to plan her next move, find another job. Her current savings would only keep her chugging along for so long.

Absentmindedly, Kaoru reached down and picked up a rock that had crossed the path of her squeaking flat sneakers. The cold grainy weight felt reassuring in her hand as she juggled it between her fingers, and then seamlessly tossed it into the opposing hand. However, Kaoru's mind was a vengeful and hateful thing; the assurance lasted only as far as a few feet before the incidence of today was placed in the fore front of her mind. She drifted back into thought.

Earlier, the day had passed by amicably. Morning had quickly faded into night for her all day shift, and Kaoru had been more than grateful. The bottoms of her feet had pulsed with pain right around the hour that marked closing.

Kaoru, passed the rock back to her other hand in agitation laced with un-willful remembrance.

It was then _he _had arrived. Swaggering in with all the haughtiness presented to someone in early youth. He had meandered about the small shop of wares and goods for a stretch of time. By the set of his body, and slope of his shoulders Kaoru had known he was up to no good. More so when he turned to her, all the silent alarms her head had been going off in warning. Without, so much as casting a glance at another thing on the shelf he had sauntered over to her counter and leaned across it. Kaoru had stared in shock at the boy who had the audacity to, oh so shamelessly and casually, drape himself into work her space!

Kaoru quickly snapped out of her revere, and shifted hands again with her makeshift stress relief ball- _back and forth, back and forth. _But, her thoughts were plaguing and wouldn't let go. Kaoru's mind dragged her back in, kicking and screaming.

To add insult to injury, the youth's pale face had been transplanted less than a foot from her own face. His breath had mingled with hers and the dull, hoppy smell of beer filled her nostrils- a heat filled his eyes.

Needless to say, it had taken the police a short amount of time, and the shop owners an even shorter amount of time to arrive at the grocery. The youth had wailed and cradled his limp, broken wrist in his hand the whole time officers took his statement. No one had noticed the press of dark marks against Kaoru's own wrist, or if they did, they ignored it. In an odd twist of fate, the teenager's surname was Shismo - the same name that had brightly glared down at her every day from the lofty position above the shop, welcoming all those to step-in and purchase. She had broken the wrist of her bosses' son.

It had taken less than a breath on her part to receive the news that she was abruptly terminated. No questions asked, no explanation given.

The recently tamped down rage swung through her at full force. _'How dare they take that stupid brat's side before even hearing what she had to say?'_ her mind hissed vehemently. She had devoted weeks to them; working hard and staying late, even coming in when they called last minute! Kaoru choked down the hot promise of tears at the sheer unfairness of the situation.

'_How could they! How could they! How FUC- ...'_

Oh.

A sharp crack had stopped her hate filled tirade short. Kaoru gasped, her heart plummeting to take up residence next to her stomach. She looked down at the empty offending appendage, attempting to reason out the situation.

She looked back up.

Kaoru quickly assessed what was before her, and she looked back down at her hand once again. Her mock stress ball was gone, and had seemed to take up residence on the other side of a shattered window.

Kaoru groaned in disbelief rubbing her hand across her face, "You have got to be kidding me?" Earlier, she had assured herself in mock promise that her day could not get any worse.

It seemed that it apparently could.

Kaoru looked about her person. The street was devoid of any foot traffic. The sun had long ago set while she was dramatically awash with her misery, and pondering her fate in the universe. Only dim street lights, and the occasional passing car kept her company. She took a step back from the scene of the accident. No one was around- she looked up in desperation for cameras- if she left right now, it would never be found out that it was her who broke the window.

Desperation was becoming a pretty commonplace feeling for her, the calm part of her brain noted. The other part of her brain chided on the about the stupidity of lobbing the rock in the first place during a bout of rage. She silenced both. Leaving the accident of the mistake was a cowardly and awful decision to make; she would have to take full responsibility. Never could it be said that her, Kamiya Kaoru, was a coward. An unlucky idiot on the other hand, absolutely.

Kaoru paced forward anxiously, waiting for an angry shop owner to come thundering out of the building. The shop in question was nothing like she had ever laid eyes on before. It was a beautifully crafted structure, reminiscent of late European style of building. Much like what she had seen in books and travel guides.

The front was covered with carved wood trimming across the entirety of the building painted a deep hunter green. The far left was affixed with a large bay style window with smoked smaller window panes neatly lined up in four rows of three. Small dyed cubed glass dressed the heavy looking wooden door. Kaoru noted she had broken through a small red dyed pane right next to the brass plated door handle. On the top of the building was simple gold lettering that had been scrawled on the top of the panelling- _Cafe. _

She tipped her head to the side in an inquisitive manner.

How odd.

Never before had she noticed anything remotely this fancy on this block. Was it new?

As she worked on steeling her resolve into absolution, Kaoru approached the door.

'_Heat, it was punishing.'_

A small tremor of ,what could only be described as an inkiling of fear, raced down her spine at the strange unbidden thought that rushed through her mind. Kaoru was struck by the brashness of it. It was like nothing she had ever heard in her mind before. She pondered its meaning for another moment than chalked it up to the stress and general oddity of the day, as Kaoru pushed the thought from her mind.

Crouched low, she stuck her face near the shattered window in the door and peered into the dark depths. Inky darkness rushed to meet her through the open crack exulting at the outside light. She expelled a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding and chuckled.

Of course, no one was here.

A dilated pupil emerged from the darkness.

Kaoru jumped back in horrified terror, her heart pulled itself from its lowered position in her stomach to drive its way to back up into her chest. Fear, wrapped its claws around her throat- leaving her incapable of even so much as uttering a scream. Tripping over her own feet, she slammed back hard onto her rear.

A light illuminated the once dark cafe and the door swung open with a time telling creak. Brightness rushed from the opening and she was temporarily blinded by the wavering figure moving towards her fallen position from the threshold of the door. Shadows were wrapped around the body; they clung to it until they dissipated due to the angling of the stranger's figure. A large pale hand was shoved in her range of vision. Kaoru could only stare dumbly at the shadowed being as she grabbed the proffered appendage.

The strong hand divested her up, and she squinted her eyes against the bright light emanating from the cafe. It bore down on her with the strength of a thousand suns, as it radiated with punishing warmth. Never could she ever remember anything being so bright.

Withholding a squeak of protest, Kaoru was unceremoniously pulled inside the cafe. The heavy wooden door swung shut behind her with finality.

The inside was more eye catching than the outside.

After inspecting around her, Kaoru decided that the interior was much like she had imagined it to be, reminiscent of a fanciful time, full of European trinkets and flair. A few full sized wooden tables and simple matching chairs were scattered throughout the cafe, a large bar ran through the front of the room- low bar lights dotted the ceiling in various corners. On the far end of the wall, the wooden paneling was lined with shelves full of stacked trinkets and what seemed to be bags of loose tea. On the walls were pictures of old buildings and lush fields filled with motley colored wildflowers.

The whole result was... homey.

The stranger cleared their throat, snapping Kaoru out of her revere.

Embarassed, she immediately plummeted into a low bow out of sheer remorse of the entirety of the situation, "I-I am so very sorry for your window! I will do anything I can to fix it or pay for replacement. I'm in between jobs now, but I can make payments, I swear I'm good for it!"

The stretch of silence was deafening in the silent room after her speech. She could feel the heavy weight of the stranger's gaze burrowing into the top of her skull. In response to the weight, a small bead of sweat trickled a path at the base of her neck and traveled rapidly between her shoulder blades. Kaoru willed the stranger to say something.

The stranger chuckled. It was a deep mirthful sound that poured over her, smooth as silk and filled the room with a different type of well... _heat_. It was the type of laugh that held rich unfulfilled promises. Kaoru looked up in sheer confusion as to what was so funny.

He was so _short._

'_No one of consequence.' _

Kaoru stamped down the rude thought almost immediately. Desperately, she hoped that the initial thought wasn't easily identifiable on her face.

The man was more than just short, his frame was also so slight that she was afraid a strong gust of wind would blow, and knock him over. His scorching red hair was piled high at the top of his head, she wondered jealously if the length rivaled hers, if not longer. A slight tilt had perched itself on the corner of his mouth. The smirk was besieging, challenging.

Gracefully, he etched her a low mocking bow in return, that smirk never leaving the residence of his face. The set of his arms and back spoke volumes of his personality. His movements were long and sinewy; he was the type of man who would never make a motion without a thought or motive behind it. The stagger of his feet hinted towards a playfulness, as though he found the whole situation _amusing_. His eyes were piercing when he regarded her after unfolding himself from his bow.

"It is quite alright, Ms.-?" he inquired in that smooth baritone that matched the velvety richness of his earlier gaiety.

"Kamiya, Kaoru," she snapped, still slightly affronted at being laughed at. Kaoru eyed him warily. _Something_ had her feeling peculiarly cagey about the man whose cafe she was in, "and you are?" This time she had managed to wrangle her tone into a more pleasing address.

"Himura, Kenshin." He spoke, briskly moving away from her to round on the wooden bar. Shifting between smallish openings blocked by a swinging door, he then proceeded to unhook a small glass from its position with its mates dangling over the back of the bar.

In a flourish of movement and unspoken words he instructed her to sit. Kaoru gratefully paid heed to his bid, her feet still throbbing from the earlier work shift. Despite her lack of order, he proceeded to bustle about in the bar back. "You seem a little rattled Miss Kamiya, may I offer you a drink?" he asked without so much as pausing in the flurry of his motion.

She felt at this time it would be rude to say no, a machine burbled in the background. "Yes, thank you that would be lovely Mr. Himura."

Time tickled by in a awful silence as he prepared her drink. Kaoru felt edgy. Sucking in a breath she spoke, "As I said earlier Mr. Himura, I am quite sorry about your door. Of course, I will do whatever necessary to help get it repaired." As she spoke, she observed the man known as Himura Kenshin before her. His mode of dress was unremarkable and customary of a bartender- a crisp white shirt, and perfectly tailored black slacks. His hair waved down his back and Kaoru envied the promise of silky smoothness. Her brain attempted to push her past her observation of him. '_No one of consequence,' _it hissed again. Kaoru furrowed her brow at the second, completely unbidden, off kilter thought of the night.

No one was **ever,** no one of consequence the logical part of her mind hissed!

However, the more she focused on him, the odder things seemed to be. Instead of being fearful of the thoughts his presence seemed to cause. She grew more enraptured. His outline seemed to falter, it was as though he was a man standing in darkness a great distance from her; his features were indiscernible and details were unfocused. But yet, he was only maybe ten feet away. To combat the blurriness Kaoru lowered her head and tilted it to the side, she hoped that the change of angle would make things easier. However, the longer she stared, the more a heavy pounding took up residence in her head. Unable to take the pain in her eyes, she tore her gaze away. Instead, choosing to focus at the cup placed before her.

Kenshin was staring at her expectantly. But when had he moved?

"It's hot toddy," he offered slowly, as though afraid she would not understand if he spoke to fast.

Kaoru nodded and took the cup graciously, warmed by his kindness. The tea was delicious. Kaoru puffed a breath across the liquid before pulling the next sip in her mouth. A positively warm feeling blossomed in her chest and moved to her limbs. For the first time in hours, she felt completely relaxed. Before even realizing, Kaoru had drained the cup in a matter of seconds.

In response there Kenshin was, once again, full cup waiting. _'How in the hell did he do that?'_ her mind grumbled in half jealousy and half amazement.

He rumbled a laugh again as though reading her thoughts. For such a small man he had such a powerful, carrying voice Kaoru noted.

"Now Miss Kamiya, in regards to my window...," he began. She looked up from the cup she was nursing in her hands as he continued, "I think per chance we could work out something in payment for the damage?"

She nodded her head vigorously, "Anything I can do Mr. Himura, anything at all."

"Oh, I'm glad to hear that Miss Kamiya. Just allow me to work out some numbers over the night, and if possible, you could stop by tomorrow to look over the figures. I'm sad to say that the window you broke was an import from overseas, but I believe I could find a glass blower here to fix it...," Kenshin intoned off with a pleasant smile.

To anyone else it would have come across as smile meant to woo. However, in a moment of unexpected clarity, Kaoru, could only see deviousness behind the white teethed gesture. After moving back from handing her tea, Kenshin had splayed himself across the back counter, legs crossed daintily at the ankles and palms resting on either side of him. She could not help but take in his sleek lines.

'_Sleek?'_ Where had that come from?

Kaoru answered in agreement to his suggestion, her second cup of hot toddy being replaced by a third.

Kenshin smiled again, this time making no attempt to hide the predatory gleam in his eyes. He leaned forward across the counter she sat at in one fluid motion, not so much a whisper of air being disturbed by his shift in areas. "My, you do seem to like that drink," he motioned to the cup in her hand, "have you ever been to my cafe before?"

Kaoru regarded him heavily, "No, actually this is my first time being here, and even seeing this place. Have you always been here?" Kaoru noted his broad shoulders that tapered into a slender waist. How could she have ever thought of him as tiny? The man known as Kenshin filled the empty space around her- he was all encompassing. His sultry voice curled lithely around her, almost parallel to his movements.

Her once again divided mind was screaming at her in warning in muted distance. It was smothered.

_'She just need to focus on him-only him._'

A dark violet, that was the color of his eyes. Violet, and so very sharp, they seemed to regard her, dissect her. He took everything she was through his eyes, processed her and reflected her back unto herself. The woman who she saw in his eyes was no one she recognized. The woman had her lips parted- cheeks flush in willing invitation.

'_No one she knew.'_

Kenshin's eyes were framed with thick red lashes, only accentuated by the slope of his jaw and the hard line of his lips.

How at any point did she think him no one of consequence?

How at any point could she have not been completely fascinated by the cut of his jaw, and the strength of his chin that saved him from being to... _pretty_?

Oh, he was talking.

"- we have just recently opened this past year, it has been quite a delight. People on this street have been treating us exceptionally well-"

Kaoru drifted off in thought, utterly and unearthly enraptured. Himura Kenshin, she mused, he positively shimmered with energy. Vibrating at such an intensity that it looked as though he was standing still. He was sunlight and fire- she, was drowning.

Kaoru shook her head to dislodge the awry thoughts, she was feeling so odd. So outside herself, that she was afraid that she had lost all things that made her Kamiya Kaoru. Something akin to panic fluttered in her chest as a puzzle clicked together in her head.

Without knowing, but fully understanding, she realized that this cafe was doing something to her emotions and thoughts. The lights felt too bright, the air was too shallow, _he_ was too close. Her initial feeling was right. There was something off about this place. The thought terrified her.

"Am I drunk?" Kaoru squeaked in disbelief.

Kenshin peered at her oddly.

Brow furrowed he answered, "Miss Kamiya, I was under the assumption that you knew hot toddy had alcohol in it."

The way he said her name, separating it into two syllables Kam_-iya_. He was doing everything right.

Something she had forced down long ago, uncurled pleasantly in her belly.

"Miss Kamiya? Miss Kamiya? Are you ok?" Kenshin politely inquired-_he_ was standing next to her stool on the side customer's side of the bar. So close, that he was almost touching her bent knees.

'T_here! He did it again,_' the remaining, albeit very minuscule, rational part of her mind hissed.

She had to get away, he was so blinding, so drugging- an attraction so intense ripped through her; it was so unnatural it was almost as though it had been forced.

"I'm alright Mr. Himura," she squabbled pulling away from him and practically leaping from her chair, "I-I just need to go home and lay down. I've never been much of a drinker. How much do I owe you?" Kaoru punctuated the sentence with a forced smile.

"Are you sure?"

"Quite, Mr. Himura," she lied. What else was she supposed to say? _'I have to get away from you because something about you terrifies me? I'm so attracted to you it hurts?' _her sulky mind supplied.

Unfortunately for Kaoru, she had underestimated how much she had actually drunk tonight and how little she drank regularly

She stumbled back as alcohol rushed to her head; he moved forward and wrapped his hand around her elbow to steady her.

Electricity surged through the points that they were connected. Kenshin's fingers gripped tighter on her elbow.

The feeling that had been growing in the pit of her stomach emerged with new a force and curled her toes. Lust, pure undisputable lust flooded her cheeks and brought with it a new warmth to her body.

Kenshin's beautiful face unfolded in a radiant smile, his eyes were sharp, heavy and full of heat. Had they always been gold?

Kenshin shimmered and danced like a flame before her. He was fire- sultry and beguiling. He consumed her; whispering lust, and promising ecstasy as he drowned her in his suffocating heat, before casting her from his hearth.

"Kaoru," he practically purred.

When had he backed her up against the stool? When had his face gotten so close?

When had she become such a person to allow such liberties to a man she had only just meet?

"Kaoru," he rasped again. Her name was like a reverent prayer from his lips.

Kenshin dropped his hands and dragged them across the backs of her thighs, moving them up right below the cusp of her bottom. Switching paths he traced a line of fire up the front of her thighs. Slowly, he moved to span her hips with his hands and the rub her stomach with the pads of his thumbs. It felt as though he was rubbing her right in the spot that throbbed and ached the most between her legs.

Who was that panting?

She swallowed heavily, his ethereal face was the only thing in field her vision. In fact, she was sure he was the only thing in the world.

He was her world.

She could not differentiate from where he stopped, and she began.

Continuing with the teasing playfulness demonstrated earlier Kenshin ran his lips across the small column of her neck, leaving feather like kisses on a wicked path to her ears. When he reached the tip, he nibbled ever so slightly nibbled on her lobe. Kaoru moaned in quiet pleading. Kenshin moved from her neck to look in her eyes, their breath mingled in communion.

When, he finally claimed her lips- it felt as though she had waited an eternity for him. Kenshin teased her, coaxed her, and punished in one unified kiss. In retaliation, Kaoru dragged her fingers through those fascinating locks of his, and pulled at his skull. It made him wild.

All at once she was falling, really falling. They landed on the floor without so much as thump, in a tangle of limbs and hair. It was all madness; she was spiraling and spinning out of control. It was as though they existed on another plane, her and this man alone. The world was muffled in her ears and shuffled in her eyes. All she felt was the feel of this man as he touched her. '_No, not a man'_ her mind slurred.

He was everywhere on her body at once, he rubbed her in silent promise. Never, had she wanted anything more in her life.

Kaoru shivered. Was she naked? Was she dressed? The harsh grain of knotted wood rubbed against her bare back.

Were they going to do it here on this cold unforgiving floor like beasts?

That new whisphering section of her mind positively purred at the idea. Kenshin stroked her. Kaoru faltered. Where had her sense gone? Who was this person writhing on the floor with this _man,_ loosing a grasp on her sanity- inhibitions. A small part of Kaoru's mind gropped frantically back at reality. That deep dark place inside her pushed back. What did it matter?

She gasped and simatenously lost herself- darkness tinging her vision.

He was fire- inflaming and heady.

And she was _scorched._

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End chapter one. To be continued... Review!


	2. Chapter Two: Extinguished

Title: Fever

Published: August 12, 2014

Summary: "He was fire- sultry and beguiling. He consumed her; whispering lust and promising ecstasy, he drowned her in his suffocating heat before casting her from his hearth." Not your average faerie tale.

Pairing: KXK MXA SXM (Definitely AU OOC)

Notes: Thanks so much for the reviews! I really hope my writing isn't too confusing/slow for these first few chapters. Please bare with me! Also a reminder, this story is based off of a couple of different stories combined and mixed in my head, which I do not own. Don't forget the 'M' rating!

Disclaimer: I wish I owned the RK crew, but alas I do not.

* * *

Chapter Two: Extinguished

* * *

_**She was on fire.**_

_No.. that wasn't it. It wasn't that simple. This feeling- it was definitely something more than that._

_'What was a better word?' She mused._

_Ah- yes… there it was._

_She was scorching. _

_**Lost**._

_She was thrust into a hedonistic tide of heat. It was rocking, but the furthest thing from soothing. It was filling, but the furthest thing from enough. The tidal wave, it drowned her in the throes of its motion -stroking, and sensual. The all encompassing flame; it licked up her sides, wrapped around her legs, slid between her breasts, and filled her waiting, receptive mouth. Her body responded with perfect aptitude, never missing a beat. She could no longer remember when the reverent feeling infused inside her wasn't a daily occurrence. It was as though the copulation was meant to complete her. As if she was being remade whole._

_Her lover- he baptized her with fire._

**X**

Kaoru knew if she ever lived through this, she would never complain about anything ever again.

Pain.

So much pain.

It came and rooted deeply in her bones, and tangled within her insides. So certain was she that, if she so much as moved she would disintegrate. Kaoru gasped at the gentle rise and fall of her chest, which stretched pained skin across her body. Her flesh screamed at the simple, natural exertion.

Everything was wrong.

Somehow throughout the night she had been switched into a foreign body much too small, the skin much too tight and the temperature much too high.

Kaoru cried out again beneath the hot press of blankets when it seemed even that even the natural stucco of her thumping heart sent a new rush of symptoms thundering through her.

Hot.

So _hot_.

Her skin singed with the heavy weight of fever. Her mind fettered between the two ideas of; unrolling beneath the damp coverings or burrowing even deeper. Unable to find the strength to so much as consider lifting the blankets from her, so she laid; docile and defeated. Turmoil spewed through her new riotous, foreign body.

To her dismay, she found she couldn't escape even into her thoughts. Her outer pain was only a perfect mirror for her inner ache.

Kaoru's mind was a deep cavern of lost information, buried beneath the kindling of a burning bonfire. She couldn't remember if she had ever been able to so much as formulate a thought in the past. It was all heat and fire. If it wasn't the former, than it was the later. She swam down deeper into her mind, desperate to escape the pain.

Darkness. Darkness.

It whispered to her from beneath the endless broiling depths in her deep cavern. It beckoned to her with a gentle, sweet promise. It held out its hand in breathless anticipation as she submerged herself beneath the riotous waves and it claimed her in its sweet oblivion.

**X**

The next time she awoke it was jarring. Not the typical smooth transition from sleeping to wakefulness that Kaoru was accustomed to. But, the type of transition that was harbinging, all the alarms on her person were blaring without definitive clarity as to why. Kaoru held her breath when her eyes flew open.

Disoriented and panicked, she searched for some clue as to the reason, as silence greeted her strained ears.

After a few terse seconds, Kaoru released her baited breath, but couldn't tamp down the ridges of goose flesh across her skin. It was too hard to make out anything through the inky darkness in the seemingly moonless night.

Feverish yet vigilant, she peered through the dense blackness to catch a possible waiver of shadows. Nothing appeared- no horror movie style "pop-out", no moving furniture or rattling chains. Just complete and utter silence.

Kaoru expelled a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. This seemingly new, however simple act sent another swell of ache to her head. It stamped deep down in that full cavern and caused another ripple in the waves. _Sleep, _the ache cooed to her riotous body. It answered receptively.

Finally, somewhere between a newborn sunset and the dusting of early morning, she awoke once again.

As if being turned on like a switch Kaoru gasped herself aware, in an all too familiar pool of sweat and fear for the second time in twenty- four hours. Pulling herself to sit-up between her panting breath, Kaoru could hear the familiar hum of her neighbor's voice filling her voicemail box, as it broke through the still air. Partially lucid, yet still completely vacant, Kaoru listened to her neighbor's distinct prattle:

"-llo Kaoru, This is Ms. Hiyomi, you know from downstairs..,"

Hesitantly, Kaoru's cracked lips pulled back into a half hearted smile at the lady's introduction. Falling back into a prone position she allowed her thoughts to wash over her. In all the time she had lived in the ramshackled apartment above Mrs. Hiyomi the old lady had always introduced herself in that way. As if Kaoru would forget the greying women's name if not constantly reminded before Mrs. Hiyomi; knocked at her door, left a voice message or sent an email.

The elderly Ms. Hiyomi was a lady who suffered from a plight similar to that of most of the decaying older generation; a deep generational gap between her and her family had left the older lady with unfulfilling social life, and broken family bonds. Because of this Ms. Hiyomi was left constantly left with a bit of time on her hands. Time she chose to spend, nosing on neighbors or gazing out her a cold bustling city such as the one she lived in, Kaoru found her to be completely endearing.

In her typical fashion, Mrs. Hiyomi recounted to Kaoru her usual day of snooping and far fetched conclusion making about the happenings in the world around her. The normalcy of the whole situation sent a sweeping wave of shudders up Kaoru's spine. After her night of seemingly death and then rebirth, she was so shocked that time had passed on so easily without her while she was being rebuilt.

In bated breath, she wiggled her fingers and repeated her actions with her toes, so sure and so scared that throughout the night she had mutated into a completely new being.

Shocked once again, Kaoru had found that nothing had changed. Even the body deteriorating ache from the previous night had seemingly vanished.

Now she only ached from lying in her prone position on her back for so long. Still completely suspicious in this new change in her health, Kaoru flipped over to lay on her belly gently, her long hair dragging across her hypersensitive skin. This feeling caused a new ache in a place she hadn't been aware of in years.

_'How odd,'_ she mused embarrassed.

_Those_ type of needs had not presented themselves in so long. Maybe the fever had gotten into her brain? Rewired her to just become this lustful being she was experiencing now. Or maybe it had just been too long, lord knows it had been years…

Kaoru scoffed out loud.

Maybe she was still too delirious from her sickness. Some type of airborne illness brought on by her stressed weakened immune system. Sleep, sleep was what she needed right now. It would fix all the abnormalities in her life, right her body and mind. It was like fighting off the inevitable anyway. Kaoru drew in a breath and began her steady count back from ten- she was asleep by seven.

* * *

'.._open for me' _

_**-UP!**_

'_That's it my sweet girl, open your mouth for me'_

_**WAK-**_

'_So beautiful'_

_**WAKE UP! **_

She was slammed back into the waking world by a tidal wave from that deep frothy cavern of hers. Her mind was pitching and thrusting, a new place trying to break free. Terrified, Kaoru quickly beat down the flood.

In a second, everything went from zero to sixty as, what can only be described as a lesson in fight or flight kicked in. All at once her pistons were firing as one, as her mind roared at her to flee. Never had she experienced an episode so terrifying as this one. Listening to her body, she rolled from her bed and stumbled as her sheet caught between her feet. Her floor kissed her a quick hello as she made contact. The shock from the blow quieted her tumultuous head and she struggled to find the breath that had escaped her.

_**'What in the fuck?' **_

Still as a hunted rabbit, Kaoru lay motionless on her apartment floor as the seconds dragged on in complete wanted to move- oh how she wanted to move in those few terse seconds.

But, her body- _her body_, wasn't her own. Governed by an unseen puppet master, she helplessly waited until they let go of the strings. All the while her body was tense and waiting for her final blow. That dark cavern in her mind was back and, wordlessly purring to her that this was her end.

She believed it.

Kaoru summarized that this was what looking down the barrel of a gun felt like. Running your eyes down that long length of hardened steel, into that empty black hole- and knowing that this was your final time and that this was your final breath.

Had she lived a good and fulfilling existence?

Would she see her parents in the afterlife?

Her final moments on the floor were so anti-climatic, so unlike what they described with flourish and a dash of beauty in the romance novels she devoured and movies she watched. As she on the floor waiting to be slaughtered like a lamb Kaoru almost felt- well, cheated. The telltale sound of her aged voicemail system filled the air.

"Kaoru? Are you there Kaoru?"

'Great,' her mind gasped, now she had to die listening to the words of the nosey busybody from downstairs.

"-Kamiya-san, please this call up. It's Toshi, you know? Your gardener from back.. well you know. I- I just...Please, Kaoru!?"

Oh, it wasn't Hiyomi, Akane from 'forty-two b'.

"Kaoru, I am so sorry. So, so sorry. We have been trying to get a hold of you for days. The police came by to do a notification for next of kin, but they said you didn't answer. I'm just hoping you get this message. I'm hoping you are home to pick-up this call."

The voice took a long pause as if waiting for her to rush over to the line as requested. A deep plagued feeling settled into her gut, quickly diminishing the earlier sense of un-warranted fear. Still, even with this hold gone from her body, Kaoru couldn't find it in herself to move an inch from her position. Something was still wrong she could hear it from the urgency in the voice.

"Doctor Genzai is gone Kaoru. They found him dead in the house. He had been there a few days. They say it was a heart attack… they said he went peacefully. Please know I'm here for you if you need anything. Anything at all, we all are. But please whatever you do, call me as soon as you get this!"

She rolled over and threw up.


End file.
